Padres unable to cut division deficit, face rubber game Thursday
Sep 25, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) his a solo home run in the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
The Padres and Dodgers met again Wednesday night for the second of a three-game series. A pair of aces in Dylan Cease and Jack Flaherty squared off at Dodger Stadium. A night after celebrating clinching a postseason berth, San Diego had a fantastic opportunity to put Los Angeles under a large amount of pressure. With a win Wednesday, the Padres could have shrunk the lead in the NL West to one game. Unfortunately, the Padres fell 4-3 after a back-and-forth game.
Similarly to Tuesday night, the Dodgers struck first in the bottom half of the 1st inning. Shohei Ohtani worked a leadoff walk and would later score on a Teoscar Hernandez RBI single to center field. The Friars, though, would quickly answer the very next inning. They scored two runs on a Xander Bogaerts base hit. Jake Cronenworth notched a RBI ground out to take a one-run lead.
Through the next two innings, Cease would quickly cruise through the Dodgers’ order. He ran into trouble when he gave up an RBI single to Gavin Lux and then a 117 mph RBI double to Ohtani. It gave the Dodgers a 3-2 lead. Just as the Padres have done all season, they did not roll-over after losing a lead. In the top of the fifth inning, Fernando Tatis Jr. demolished a four-seamer from Flaherty, sending it 448 feet into the left-center field pavilion. It tied the game at 3-3. On paper, the series’ best pitching matchup saw both Cease and Flaherty work 5 innings and give up 3 earned runs each. Once the game reached the sixth, it became a battle of the bullpens.
Jermiah Estrada relieved Cease and walked the first two hitters of the inning before recording the first 2 outs. Padres manager Mike Shildt brought in Adrian Morejon to face Ohtani with two on and two outs. The righty allowed an RBI single which put the Dodgers in front 4-3. Dave Roberts used a total of four relievers to hold the Padres scoreless the rest of the ballgame. In the ninth, the Friars put the tying run on-base with two outs for Donovan Solano. He ended up striking out on a 100 mph fastball from flame-throwing right-hander Michael Kopech.
The difference between the two clubs in game two was the Dodgers’ ability to capitalize on the walks issued by the Padres’ pitching staff. Defensively, both Jackson Merrill and Tatis Jr. made terrific plays in the outfield. Brian Hoeing continued his stellar start to his Padres tenure, pitching getting four outs without a run.
Postgame, Shildt said, “we’re looking to win each one. That’s what we’ve done since day one. We’ll continue to do it. We’re playing for the division. It’s a little bit out of our hands as far as our destiny goes. But we still have a shot at it, for sure. Show up ready to go.” Dylan Cease also spoke with the media after his start. “I would have liked to execute more consistently. But sometimes you have games like that, and you’ve just got to battle.”
With the loss, the Padres fell three games back of first place with four games left to play. It becomes increasingly more difficult for the them to win their first division title in eighteen years. A path still remains, but it would require help from the Colorado Rockies in their series against the Dodgers this upcoming weekend. That is assuming the Friars take the last game of the series in Los Angeles. If the Padres want to avoid watching the Dodgers celebrate clinching the NL West title, they will have to win a game three rubber match Thursday, in which Joe Musgrove faces off against Walker Buehler.
Armando Duenas is a 24 year-old aspiring journalist. He is a native San Diegan who grew up in the South Bay area. A lifelong Padres fan and baseball enthusiast, he resides just about fifteen minutes from PETCO Park, where his love of the game began.